This invention relates to a process for the production of substances of vegetable origin by "in vitro" culture.
Numerous substances of vegetable origin have a certain economic value for such industries as the pharmaceutical industry (active principles of medicaments), the cosmetics industry (perfume) and the food industry (flavourings and additives). The substances in question are generally produced by extraction from collected or cultivated plants. However, this method has many disadvantages, particularly in regard to restocking of the vegetable starting material (periodicity, stability, quality, etc.).
Various substitute processes have been investigated with a view to obviating these disadvantages. They include the "in vitro" process for culturing undifferentiated tissues or cells of productive species. Reference is made in this regard to Japanese patent JP 57-39778, which relates to the culture of calluses in an agitated liquid medium containing cellulose to extract the active principles therefrom with paraffin oil and/or fats, and to the Article by Bisson et al (Journal of Medicinal Plant Research, 1983, 47, 164) which relates to the extraction of essential oils from a culture of undifferentiated cells of camomile by addition to the nutrient medium of droplets of a fatty phase in which the oils are to accumulate. However, because they use undifferentiated cells, these techniques are limited to the preparation of well-defined products.